For figures on Adherents of All Religions by Continent, seeTable; for Adherents in the United States, seeTable.

Worldwide Adherents of All Religions, Mid-2004

Africa

Asia

Europe

Latin America

Northern America

Oceania

World

%

Number of Countries

Christians

401,717,000

341,337,000

553,689,000

510,131,000

273,941,000

26,147,000

2,106,962,000

33.0

238

Affiliated Christians

380,265,000

335,602,000

531,267,000

504,747,000

223,994,000

21,994,000

1,997,869,000

31.3

238

Roman Catholics

143,065,000

121,618,000

276,739,000

476,699,000

79,217,000

8,470,000

1,105,808,000

17.3

235

Independents

87,913,000

176,516,000

24,445,000

44,810,000

81,138,000

1,719,000

416,541,000

6.5

221

Protestants

115,276,000

56,512,000

70,908,000

53,572,000

65,881,000

7,699,000

369,848,000

5.8

232

Orthodox

37,989,000

13,240,000

158,974,000

848,000

6,620,000

756,000

218,427,000

3.4

134

Anglicans

43,404,000

733,000

25,727,000

909,000

2,986,000

4,986,000

78,745,000

1.2

163

Marginal Christians

3,269,000

3,083,000

4,425,000

10,352,000

11,384,000

630,000

33,143,000

0.5

215

Multiple affiliation

-50,562,000

-34,528,000

-10,021,000

-80,962,000

-23,217,000

-2,252,000

-201,542,000

-3.2

163

Unaffiliated Christians

21,437,000

5,734,000

22,395,000

5,384,000

49,947,000

4,153,000

109,050,000

1.7

232

Muslims

350,453,000

892,440,000

33,290,000

1,724,000

5,109,000

408,000

1,283,424,000

20.1

206

Hindus

2,604,000

844,593,000

1,467,000

766,000

1,444,000

417,000

851,291,000

13.3

116

Chinese universists

35,400

400,718,000

266,000

200,000

713,000

133,000

402,065,000

6.3

94

Buddhists

148,000

369,394,000

1,643,000

699,000

3,063,000

493,000

375,440,000

5.9

130

Ethnoreligionists

105,251,000

141,589,000

1,238,000

3,109,000

1,263,000

319,000

252,769,000

4.0

144

Neoreligionists

112,000

104,352,000

381,000

764,000

1,561,000

84,800

107,255,000

1.7

107

Sikhs

58,400

24,085,000

238,000

0

583,000

24,800

24,989,000

0.4

34

Jews

224,000

5,317,000

1,985,000

1,206,000

6,154,000

104,000

14,990,000

0.2

134

Spiritists

3,100

2,000

135,000

12,575,000

160,000

7,300

12,882,000

0.2

56

Baha’is

1,929,000

3,639,000

146,000

813,000

847,000

122,000

7,496,000

0.1

218

Confucianists

300

6,379,000

16,600

800

0

50,600

6,447,000

0.1

16

Jains

74,900

4,436,000

0

0

7,500

700

4,519,000

0.1

11

Shintoists

0

2,717,000

0

7,200

60,000

0

2,784,000

0.0

8

Taoists

0

2,702,000

0

0

11,900

0

2,714,000

0.0

5

Zoroastrians

900

2,429,000

89,900

0

81,600

3,200

2,605,000

0.0

23

Other religionists

75,000

68,000

257,500

105,000

650,000

10,000

1,166,000

0.0

78

Nonreligious

5,912,000

601,478,000

108,674,000

15,939,000

31,286,000

3,894,600

767,184,000

12.0

237

Atheists

585,000

122,870,000

22,048,000

2,756,000

1,997,000

400,000

150,656,000

2.4

219

Total population

869,183,000

3,870,545,000

725,564,000

550,795,000

328,932,000

32,619,000

6,377,643,000

100.0

238

Continents. These follow current UN demographic terminology, which now divides the world into the six major areas shown above. See United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision (New York: UN, 2003), with populations of all continents, regions, and countries covering the period 1950-2050, with 100 variables for every country each year. Note that "Asia" includes the former Soviet Central Asian states and "Europe" includes all of Russia eastward to the Pacific.

Countries. The last column enumerates sovereign and nonsovereign countries in which each religion or religious grouping has a numerically significant and organized following.

Adherents. As defined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a person’s religion is what he or she professes, confesses, or states that it is. Totals are enumerated for each of the world’s 238 countries following the methodology of the World Christian Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. (2001), and World Christian Trends (2001), using recent censuses, polls, surveys, yearbooks, reports, Web sites, literature, and other data. See the World Christian Database <www.worldchristiandatabase.org> for more detail. Religions are ranked in order of size in mid-2004.

Christians. Followers of Jesus Christ, enumerated here under Affiliated Christians, those affiliated with churches (church members, with names written on church rolls, usually total number of baptized persons, including children baptized, dedicated, or undedicated); total in 2004 being 1,998,631,000, shown above divided among the six standardized ecclesiastical blocs and with (negative and italicized) figures for those persons with Multiple affiliation (all who are baptized members of more than one denomination) and Unaffiliated Christians, who are persons professing or confessing in censuses or polls to be Christians though not so affiliated.

Independents. This term here denotes members of Christian churches and networks that regard themselves as postdenominationalist and neo-apostolic and thus independent of historic, mainstream, organized, institutionalized, confessional, denominationalist Christianity.

Marginal Christians. Members of denominations who define themselves as Christians but who are on the margins of organized mainstream Christianity (e.g., Unitarians, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science, and Religious Science).

Other religionists. Including a handful of religions, quasi-religions, pseudoreligions, parareligions, religious or mystic systems, and religious and semireligious brotherhoods of numerous varieties.

Total population. UN medium variant figures for mid-2004, as given in World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision.

Religious Adherents in the United States of America, 1900-2005

Annual Change, 1990-2000

1900

%

mid-1970

%

mid-1990

%

mid-2000

%

mid-2005

%

Natural

Conversion

Total

Rate (%)

Christians

73,260,000

96.4

190,732,000

90.8

218,335,000

85.4

239,575,000

84.1

251,794,000

83.9

2,507,000

-378,000

2,129,000

0.93

Affiliated Christians

54,425,000

71.6

152,874,000

72.8

175,500,000

68.6

195,798,000

68.7

205,786,000

68.6

2,016,000

18,300

2,035,000

1.10

Independents

5,850,000

7.7

35,666,000

17.0

66,900,000

26.2

76,218,000

26.7

80,286,000

26.8

766,000

166,000

932,000

1.31

Roman Catholics

10,775,000

14.2

48,305,000

23.0

56,500,000

22.1

62,970,000

22.1

65,900,000

22.0

647,000

-210

647,000

1.09

Protestants

35,000,000

46.1

58,568,000

27.9

60,216,000

23.5

60,797,000

21.3

61,295,000

20.4

690,000

-632,000

58,100

0.10

Marginal Christians

800,000

1.1

6,126,000

2.9

8,940,000

3.5

10,188,000

3.6

11,018,000

3.7

102,000

22,400

125,000

1.32

Orthodox

400,000

0.5

4,189,000

2.0

5,150,000

2.0

5,733,000

2.0

5,992,000

2.0

59,000

-670

58,300

1.08

Anglicans

1,600,000

2.1

3,196,000

1.5

2,450,000

1.0

2,325,000

0.8

2,206,000

0.7

28,100

-40,600

-12,500

-0.52

Multiple affiliation

0

0.0

-3,176,000

-1.5

-24,656,000

-9.6

-22,433,000

-7.9

-20,911,000

-7.0

-276,000

503,000

227,000

-0.98

Evangelicals

32,068,000

42.2

35,248,000

16.8

38,400,000

15.0

42,890,000

15.0

44,825,000

14.9

440,000

10,000

450,000

1.11

evangelicals

35,000,000

14.5

45,500,000

21.7

88,449,000

34.6

98,326,000

34.5

103,513,000

34.5

1,038,000

488,000

1,527,000

1.57

Unaffiliated Christians

18,835,000

24.8

37,858,000

18.0

42,835,000

16.8

43,777,000

15.4

46,009,000

15.3

491,000

-396,000

94,200

0.22

Jews

1,500,000

2.0

6,700,000

3.2

5,535,000

2.2

5,659,000

2.0

5,764,000

1.9

63,400

-51,000

12,400

0.22

Muslims

10,000

0.0

800,000

0.4

3,500,000

1.4

4,292,000

1.5

4,657,000

1.6

40,100

39,100

79,200

2.06

Black Muslims

0

0.0

200,000

0.1

1,250,000

0.5

1,650,000

0.6

1,850,000

0.6

12,700

17,300

30,000

2.29

Buddhists

30,000

0.0

200,000

0.1

1,880,000

0.7

2,517,000

0.9

2,721,000

0.9

21,500

42,100

63,700

2.96

Neoreligionists

10,000

0.0

560,000

0.3

1,155,000

0.5

1,428,000

0.5

1,509,000

0.5

13,200

14,000

27,300

2.14

Ethnoreligionists

100,000

0.1

70,000

0.0

780,000

0.3

1,083,000

0.4

1,158,000

0.4

8,900

21,400

30,300

3.34

Hindus

1,000

0.0

100,000

0.1

750,000

0.3

1,056,000

0.4

1,144,000

0.4

8,600

22,000

30,600

3.48

Baha’is

2,800

0.0

138,000

0.1

600,000

0.2

774,000

0.3

829,000

0.3

6,900

10,500

17,400

2.57

Sikhs

0

0.0

1,000

0.0

160,000

0.1

239,000

0.1

270,000

0.1

1,800

6,100

7,900

4.11

Spiritists

0

0.0

0

0.0

120,000

0.0

142,000

0.0

149,000

0.0

1,400

800

2,200

1.68

Chinese Universists

70,000

0.1

90,000

0.0

76,000

0.0

80,000

0.0

86,700

0.0

870

-430

440

0.56

Shintoists

0

0.0

0

0.0

50,000

0.0

57,600

0.0

60,600

0.0

570

180

760

1.42

Zoroastrians

0

0.0

0

0.0

42,000

0.0

54,000

0.0

58,000

0.0

490

670

1,200

2.44

Taoists

0

0.0

0

0.0

10,000

0.0

11,400

0.0

12,000

0.0

110

25

140

1.32

Jains

0

0.0

0

0.0

5,000

0.0

7,000

0.0

7,700

0.0

57

160

210

3.61

Other religionists

10,200

0.0

450,000

0.2

530,000

0.2

577,000

0.2

600,000

0.2

5,100

-390

4,700

0.85

Nonreligious

1,000,000

1.3

10,070,000

4.8

21,414,000

8.4

26,123,000

9.1

27,794,000

9.3

245,000

226,000

471,000

2.01

Atheists

1,000

0.0

200,000

0.1

770,000

0.3

1,328,000

0.5

1,424,000

0.5

8,800

47,000

55,800

5.60

Total population

75,995,000

100.0

210,111,000

100.0

255,712,000

100.0

285,003,000

100.0

300,038,000

100.0

2,929,000

0

2,929,000

1.13

Methodology. This table extracts and analyzes a microcosm of the world religion table. It depicts the United States, the country with the largest number of adherents to Christianity, the world’s largest religion. Statistics at five points in time from 1900 to 2005 are presented. Each religion’s Annual Change for 1990-2000 is also analyzed by Natural increase (births minus deaths, plus immigrants minus emigrants) per year and Conversion increase (new converts minus new defectors) per year, which together constitute the Total increase per year. Rate increase is then computed as percentage per year.

Structure. Vertically the table lists 30 major religious categories. The major categories (including nonreligious) in the U.S. are listed with largest (Christians) first. Indented names of groups in the "Adherents" column are subcategories of the groups above them and are also counted in these unindented totals, so they should not be added twice into the column total. Figures in italics draw adherents from all categories of Christians above and so cannot be added together with them. Figures for Christians are built upon detailed head counts by churches, often to the last digit. Totals are then rounded to the nearest 1,000. Because of rounding, the corresponding percentage figures may sometimes not total exactly to 100%. Religions are ranked in order of size in 2005.

Christians. All persons who profess publicly to follow Jesus Christ as God and Savior. This category is subdivided into Affiliated Christians (church members) and Unaffiliated (nominal) Christians (professing Christians not affiliated with any church). See also the note on Christians to the world religion table. The first six lines under "Affiliated Christians" are ranked by size in 2005 of megabloc (Anglican, Independent, Marginal Christian, Orthodox, Protestant, and Roman Catholic).

Evangelicals/evangelicals. These two designations--italicized and enumerated separately here--cut across all of the six Christian traditions or ecclesiastical blocs listed above and should be considered separately from them. The Evangelicals are mainly Protestant churches, agencies, and individuals who call themselves by this term (for example, members of the National Association of Evangelicals); they usually emphasize 5 or more of 7, 9, or 21 fundamental doctrines (salvation by faith, personal acceptance, verbal inspiration of Scripture, depravity of man, Virgin Birth, miracles of Christ, atonement, evangelism, Second Advent, et al.). The evangelicals are Christians of evangelical conviction from all traditions who are committed to the evangel (gospel) and involved in personal witness and mission in the world but who do not belong to specifically Evangelical churches or agencies or give their primary identity as "Evangelical." Alternatively, these are all termed Great Commission Christians.

Other categories. Definitions are as given under the world religion table.

War and Sectarian Violence

Suicide bombers killed more than 140 people in attacks on Shiʿite Muslim shrines in the Iraqi cities of Karbalaʾ and Basra in March on Ashura, a holy day marking the anniversary of a 7th-century battle in which the grandson of the prophet Muhammad was killed. Iraqi religious buildings in Baghdad and Mosul were targeted in August by car bombs that killed more than 12 people. In Nigeria attackers from the predominantly Christian Tarok tribe killed more than 500 people in raids on the mostly Muslim town of Yelwa in May. The raids were conducted in retaliation for the killing of almost 100 Christians in Yelwa in February, including 48 who were slain in a church. Fighting between Muslim groups and security forces in Thailand in April claimed more than 100 lives, including 32 who were killed in an attack by government troops on a mosque in Pattani. In October more than 70 Muslim men suffocated or were crushed to death as they were being taken to military barracks in army trucks after a riot in Tak Bai, Thai. Attacks by Kosovo’s predominantly Muslim ethnic Albanians on Serbian Orthodox sites in March included the burning of 41 churches and 366 houses.

Such outbreaks of violence were denounced and repudiated by influential Muslim individuals and organizations. In January, Saudi Arabia’s most prominent cleric, Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheik, told about two million pilgrims at the Namira Mosque that terrorists who claimed to be holy warriors were an affront to the faith. Iraq’s top Shiʿite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani (seeBiographies), described the attacks on Iraqi churches as “hideous crimes.” In his inaugural address in June, Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi (seeBiographies), a Shiʿite, denounced Islamic militants as “the grandsons of the heretics of Islam” and said they had been “rejected by history.” A gathering of about 300 Islamic scholars from 49 countries in Jakarta, Indon., in February issued a declaration condemning “acts of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations” and rejected the identification of terrorism with any religion. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations invited Muslims from around the world to sign an online petition stating that “no injustice done to Muslims can ever justify the massacre of innocent people, and no act of terror will ever serve the cause of Islam.”

Homosexuality

A report prepared by an international Anglican commission, released in October, urged the U.S. Episcopal Church to apologize for having “caused deep offense” to other Anglicans with its approval in 2003 of an openly gay bishop, the Rev. V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The report also said blessings of same-sex unions are not a “legitimate application” of Christian faith and urged the U.S. and Canadian churches to discontinue them. At its General Synod in St. Catharines, Ont., in June, the Canadian church affirmed the “integrity and sanctity” of same-sex relationships. Otis Charles, the retired Episcopal bishop of Utah, became the world’s first bishop to wed a same-sex partner in church when he married Felipe Sanchez Paris in San Francisco in April. The Rev. Jeffrey John, an openly gay priest who had declined an appointment as a bishop in the Church of England in 2003, was installed as dean of St. Albans Cathedral in July. In April it was reported that Anglican bishops in Africa had decided not to accept money from congregations in the West that allowed the ordination of gay bishops; Anglicans in Asia, Africa, and Latin America outnumbered those in Europe and North America about two to one but depended on large donations from congregations in the West. The 10-million-member United Methodist Church declared at its quadrennial General Conference in Pittsburgh, Pa., in May that it “does not condone the practice of homosexuality” and opposes the ordination of anyone who is a “self-avowed practicing homosexual.” At its annual meeting in June in Indianapolis, Ind., the 16-million-member Southern Baptist Convention commended Pres. George W. Bush for his support of a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples. In contrast, leaders of 26 Christian and Jewish organizations sent an open letter to Congress in June saying that the amendment proposal showed disregard for civil rights and ignored differences between religious traditions.

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